GOLDEN CANARY ( dick grayson )

two ; one more year

I think there's a way
Why don't we just say, "One more year"?
Not worryin' if I get the right amount of sleep
Not carin' if we do the same thing every week

Dick Grayson had been living with Bruce Wayne in the Wayne Mansion now for a full year and was somewhat settled in. And Gotham had come to terms with the Batman's new sidekick, Robin, who really, in the villains eyes, was just a cheap knock-off version of the Bat. Dick hated being called that, and when he mentioned it to Bruce, the older man simply told him that he just needed more training and experience out in Gotham City.

So that's what the teenager was doing, sparring in the Bat Cave with his some what of a best friend, Leora Lance.

The two teenagers got along fairly quickly from the moment they first met. And ever since then, they would text or call each other on their phones, and whenever Leora had to go to Gotham for her mother's Justice League business, the two would sit in Dick's bedroom and just talk and have a good laugh. Even, occasionally, with the company of Donna Troy who Dick found he could somewhat relate to. The three shared a bond and not only from being sidekicks to Justice League member's. They had all lost parental figures in their lives, with Dick and Donna having lost both of their parents and Leora having lost her father. It was a sad thing to bond over, really, but that's what bought them closer to one another. They shared stories about their families, messed around in the Bat Cave with Bruce's gadgets whenever they could, and acted as normal best friends and teenagers whenever they weren't with their mentor's.

However, Leora and Dick found themselves not acting, particularly, as normal teenagers would at the moment. They were down in the bat cave, talking and sparring while Bruce and Laurel watched over Gotham for the night. The two friends were standing on a padded mat, both dressed in athletic garb that maximised their flexibility and padded their knees and hands. They found that they worked well both together and against each other, quickly picking up on new moves the other had learnt from their mentor whilst also using their own.

Leora found that Dick tended to use his anger and aggression towards Bruce Wayne and his parents deaths during their combats, so she would use that against him and simply get him to injure himself while he tried to use all of his strength at once. Dick, on the other hand, found that Leora was particularly smaller than he was which limited her reach, and she wasn't as flexible and acrobatic as he was—although he was currently teaching her basic acrobatic skills that would help her improve her fighting style. So he was good at defending himself against her, dodging her blows with a simple back bend or a backwards handspring.

But despite all of this, Leora was still the better fighter. And she made it known whenever the two sparred together.

"Fuck!" Dick yelled as he hit the mat.

Leora swiftly crouched and sprung forward, shoving her hands onto his forearms and ripping him back, pinning him to the mat. With her legs weighing his down and Dick's arms held to his side, Leora gave him a grin. "Pinned ya."

"Don't remind me," Dick grumbled.

"But, Dick, come on," Leora said, getting off of the teenager so that he could sit up. "I know you can do better than this. I've seen it. What's got you so distracted?"

Dick rolled his eyes with a huff. "It's nothing. I'm not distracted."

Leora smirked lightly. "Right." She leapt forward again and wrapped her arms around his neck, putting him into a choke hold. "Is it a girrrrrl?"

Dick gripped tightly onto Leora's arms and flipped her over his head. She landed with a thud onto her back, but before Dick could pin her down, Leora rolled away from his grasp and faced him, the two teenagers kneeling down in front of each other. "It's not a girl, okay? It doesn't always have to be a girl."

"It's gotta be something, then. Cause you are definitely not doing your best right now." Dick grumbled and leapt towards Leora. But she could see it coming and easily dodged him and spun around and pinned him onto the ground again. "Emotions. You can't let your emotions get the better of you, otherwise your opponent will be able to anticipate your next move like what I just did." Leora let Dick go and the two sat back on the mat. Dick looked towards the ground beside him, his face blank and void of emotion. Leora knew something was definitely up with the Grayson boy, so she let out a small sigh before scooting closer towards him. "Dick." No response. Leora reached out and grabbed his hand, gaining his attention as he looked up at her. "Dick, please tell me what's going on. This isn't totally, exactly like you right now."

Dick eventually let out a long sigh. "All Bruce wants me to do is spar or be his vigilante sidekick at night, when all I want to be is a normal teenager, y'know?" He said. "I'm focusing majority of my time training and being Robin that I barely have time for school. Like I've missed out on so many days of school simply because Bruce and I have had a late night that I'm spending the whole next day sleeping. And then when I am at school, I'm too busy taking naps during class to actually do any schoolwork. I'm in my junior year next semester for fuck sake, but at this rate, it doesn't even look like I'll be passing my sophomore year."

Leora let out a soft sigh, knowing exactly where Dick was coming from. "Look, Bruce is making you do all this extra vigilante stuff because he's trying to focus all of the rage and sadness you feel from your parents deaths onto that. It's shit, yeah, but he's trying to have your best interests at heart because it's exactly what he went through when he was our age. He knows that with your temper, which your definitely have, and don't even deny it!" Leora quickly said when she noticed Dick open his mouth to give her a snarky comment. "You would have ended up on Gotham's streets living a pretty shit life. And your emotions definitely would have gotten the better of you and you would definitely have ended up in juvie. Trust me, Dick, I know. I went through the same shit when my dad died."

Dick shook his head. "I get it, but sometimes I can't help but wonder how differently things would have been if Bruce never adopted me, or if my parents never died."

"For starters, you wouldn't have met me." This put a grin onto Dick's face, which caused Leora to laugh at his response. "But, yeah, I find myself wondering the same, too."

Dick looked back down at their still conjoined hands and watched as Leora began to use her thumbs to softly rub against the sides of his hands. "It'll be okay, Dick. I'll be here for you." He looked up at her and she smiled back at him. And it was what Leora said that Dick would never forget for the rest of his life. "You're my best friend, Dick. You can always count on me."